I went on the typical Saturday ride - a 65 mile road loop that, with our group of around 20 or so cyclists, usually averages about 24 mph. It is always fun.
BUT, Easter Sunday was the real ride day. A local framebuilder and owner of the Mustache Cycle Company, Richardo http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/, let me know last weekend about his annual BAHH Race - a race down Mount Elden just north of town that is always held on Easter Sunday. The race is held "in celebration of the goat" - the wild goats that are rumored to have lived on the slopes of Mt. Elden since the Spanish first introduced them in initial explorations of the area.
Of course I had to race it!
He told me to meet at his shop at the base of Mt. Elden at noon on Easter Sunday and to expect costumes and a "Beaster Egg" hunt at the bottom. For those of you who don't know, "The Beast" is the nickname lovingly given to Milwaukee's Best.
I met up at Richard's shop at noon where a group of riders, some of whom I knew well and some I had never met (many of them local mechanics or bike shop owners in town) were hanging around dressed as everything from 1970's roller skaters to zebra-bunnies. I wore the immediately famous "goat sweater" - a sweater vest that I found the day before at Goodwill that was so ugly, I could have actually been mistaken for a goat while wearing it. Once everyone had their share of sitting around the wooden ranch house that was Richard's home and shop, soaking in the bright sunshine and cool shade of the Ponderosa pines and enjoying a few nice PBR+J's, we took off up Mt. Elden for a casual ~3,000 ft. climb. We were thoroughly tired by the time we reached the top of the mountain, but this was just the time for the racing to begin!
BUT, Easter Sunday was the real ride day. A local framebuilder and owner of the Mustache Cycle Company, Richardo http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/, let me know last weekend about his annual BAHH Race - a race down Mount Elden just north of town that is always held on Easter Sunday. The race is held "in celebration of the goat" - the wild goats that are rumored to have lived on the slopes of Mt. Elden since the Spanish first introduced them in initial explorations of the area.
Of course I had to race it!
He told me to meet at his shop at the base of Mt. Elden at noon on Easter Sunday and to expect costumes and a "Beaster Egg" hunt at the bottom. For those of you who don't know, "The Beast" is the nickname lovingly given to Milwaukee's Best.
I met up at Richard's shop at noon where a group of riders, some of whom I knew well and some I had never met (many of them local mechanics or bike shop owners in town) were hanging around dressed as everything from 1970's roller skaters to zebra-bunnies. I wore the immediately famous "goat sweater" - a sweater vest that I found the day before at Goodwill that was so ugly, I could have actually been mistaken for a goat while wearing it. Once everyone had their share of sitting around the wooden ranch house that was Richard's home and shop, soaking in the bright sunshine and cool shade of the Ponderosa pines and enjoying a few nice PBR+J's, we took off up Mt. Elden for a casual ~3,000 ft. climb. We were thoroughly tired by the time we reached the top of the mountain, but this was just the time for the racing to begin!
The race started with a classic shotgun-LeMan's start. I of course won the shotgun, but quickly fell behind in the riding. The race sped off down the Heart trail - notorious as one of the loosest, most switch-backy trails in Flagstaff. Riding certainly was a technical challenge. There were a few wipeouts, and Richard won his own race.
At the race finish, aka the meadow at the intersection of the trail, we congregated and Richard announced the start of the "Beaster Egg" hunt. Having no idea what I was looking for, I happily skipped into meadow with all the other interestingly clad riders. I soon spotted a silver glimmer in a bush and raced to get it; I pulled out a fresh (meaning day old) Milwaukee's Best Light, known among college-campuses countrywide as 'The Beast'. Richard had ridden out the day before with a 30 rack of it - props to the man.
After each of us had our fill of the Beast, we started back on a casual 8 mile singletrack ride down 'Forces of Nature' trail to Richard's shop and had a big BBQ.
Of course, I was having so much fun that I didn't think about the fact that I still had to ride home in the dark with no light... Luckily, a few racers were headed that way also, and I simply rode behind them to take advantage of their lights. However, when we turned off onto more singletrack all I could see was light falling on the edges of trail around their dark silhouettes. It made for interesting riding, but I made it home and promptly passed out :)
At the race finish, aka the meadow at the intersection of the trail, we congregated and Richard announced the start of the "Beaster Egg" hunt. Having no idea what I was looking for, I happily skipped into meadow with all the other interestingly clad riders. I soon spotted a silver glimmer in a bush and raced to get it; I pulled out a fresh (meaning day old) Milwaukee's Best Light, known among college-campuses countrywide as 'The Beast'. Richard had ridden out the day before with a 30 rack of it - props to the man.
After each of us had our fill of the Beast, we started back on a casual 8 mile singletrack ride down 'Forces of Nature' trail to Richard's shop and had a big BBQ.
Of course, I was having so much fun that I didn't think about the fact that I still had to ride home in the dark with no light... Luckily, a few racers were headed that way also, and I simply rode behind them to take advantage of their lights. However, when we turned off onto more singletrack all I could see was light falling on the edges of trail around their dark silhouettes. It made for interesting riding, but I made it home and promptly passed out :)
